Tiger Brands has denied that there is a direct link between the reported deaths and its products. But the company is facing class action lawsuits by the victims and families of people affected by listeriosis.

It a statement late on Wednesday‚ the company said that its own tests on a batch of products in February could not confirm the presence of the ST6 strain. These samples were sent to an external laboratory for further tests which proved inconclusive. The samples were then sent for re-testing.

“The purpose of this announcement is to update shareholders on the results of the independent laboratory re-testing which was carried out in respect of the presence of LST6 in the above samples which were manufactured at the Enterprise Polokwane processing facility. On April 24‚ Tiger Brands received confirmation of the presence of LST6 in these samples‚” said the company.

“As reported previously‚ we have been actively engaging with the Department of Health and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases on our findings and will continue to collaborate with them on the actions taken to date to actively address our findings.”

Enterprise facilities in Polokwane‚ Pretoria and Germiston “remain closed while remedial work continues”.